Mad Dog

jumper alternates the direction he or she faces by making 180° clockwise and counter-clockwise turns, jumping over the rope forwards and backwards as the rope continually spins in the same direction.

Yesterday started as one of the best days ever...

...because someone sat by me on the bus.

And it wasn't one of those "Wow! That person just sat by me and we had this awesome conversation that inspired me to be a better person and yada yada yada..."

Nope.  All this person really did was sit down.

You see, nobody has ever sat by me all semester.  It's been really strange—all throughout school I'd always thought I was a "people person" and I've always had someone to sit by or a buddy to talk with.  This semester I only had one class with someone I previously knew.  But that doesn't explain the whole problem either.

Last semester I also had classes with no recognizable faces, but I was able to make a new friend in every class I had.  I could count on sitting by that person each class and we'd talk and and chat and it was great!  But this semester no one had wanted to sit by me and I was becoming a little bit of a mad dog.

I'm a friendly guy, but when no one sits by you it's hard to make friends.  And they can't just sit near you... Sitting across the aisle and talking is way different from sitting right next to someone and talking.

Way. Different.

So to try making new friends I would sit in different seats to see if someone would sit in their "regular seat" next to me.  Yeah, I was that annoying kid who randomly took that seat that you always sat in.  (But that was only like the third week of school. I don't do that anymore)  Yet, when I sat in a new seat I noticed that people still avoided sitting by me.

Okay not really "avoided."  More likely they were just unconsciously uncomfortable with siting by someone they didn't know. Understandable.  But for all six of my classes? Possible...but not probable.  Especially since I'd sometimes succeed in sitting next to someone one day but then they'd not ever sit by me again.  I was getting just a titch grumpy.

And then yesterday.

I was on the bus, just minding my own business, playing some Sudoku on my phone.  (I do love Sudoku!)  Then all the sudden, out of the blue—like a flash of lightning—a girl!  And she sits down next to yours truly!! 

That's right...me!

I was so happy inside.

It started a little awkward because we were complete strangers. (Actually even more so awkward was the fact that I knew her name already, but that's a long story so we won't go into details.  Let it just suffice that I knew her name and she didn't know mine.)  But we got talking, and we laughed and and shared stories and it was great! Then she even caught me off guard by asking me about my preparation for my mission—I guess she knew more about me than I thought, even if she didn't know my name.

And BTW: She was married.  So, Twinner, don't you get thinking that anything is gonna come of this.

I was just so happy to have been sat by.

And so I learned a great lesson.  After this girl sat by me on the bus, I slowly started remembering that I did have friends in most of my classes.  They weren't the sit-right-by-you-every-day-in-class friendships I had hoped for, but I've gotten to know new people nonetheless, so I'm not even a mad dog in the slightest anymore.  I just need to remember that I have been blessed with such great friends already and if I don't make new ones, then I'm glad for the ones I've already got.

This mad dog is now a happy one. :)

Boxer Step, Bell, Scissors...

The easiest "tricks" of all time.  Jumper simply hops backwards and forwards, side to side, or crosses and uncrosses legs as the torso and head stay in a relatively stationary position.  These can become incredibly boring... (click here for a visual of the "boxer step")

This semester so far has been a little bit of a boxer step.

As in, if things don't start picking up in levels of difficulty then I might be just a little bit bored.

Last semester kept me pleasantly busy.  Not too stressful and not too easy.  I spent plenty of time working on assignments, yet I still had time for a Jamba Juice run every now and again AND I still had a social life.

Okay, okay, maybe I lacked a little bit in the social life.  You'd have to check with my best buds on that one, but I did make sure I had time for Jamba!  And in my defense, the fourth floor of the library is a great place and it kept me out of trouble!  I loved studying up there; I was basking in the wonderful feeling of accomplishment!

Speaking of the library...I sincerely miss that place.  I've only been there twice this semester, hence the boring part of this semester.  My classes have limited assigned readings and they are short when they do get assigned.  Nor have I had tons of papers due.  (I'm beginning to hope that I'm not jinxing myself by writing this post and dooming myself to the hardest semester ever beginning next week) So because I haven't been up to the fourth floor I'm really starting to miss the spinney chairs and big windows.  The fourth floor is almost like a big party room for us students.

WAIT! I take that back 'cause it is not actually a big party room!!! I'm telling you, the people up there on the fourth floor are study-sticklers.  I would know cause I was one of them up there last semester.  If you do so much as whisper you'll get a death glare that'll put you six-feet-under-and-pushing-daisies.

Once I accidentally dropped my phone.  I promise, it was a complete accident!  Problem was, it wasn't just a "clunk" onto the floor.  I dropped it right square onto the metal stand of the table.  You almost wouldn't believe it, but a small plastic phone dropped on a  circular piece of metal sounds like a Japanese gong.  And not a little cymbal-sized gong, this was like the huge Japanese gong from Cars 2.  I'm pretty sure it was loud enough to create an echo.

Loud enough to make me laugh actually, which, now that I think of it, may have had more to do with the death glares than the dropping of the cellular device.

But I digress.  Back to the subject at hand.

Thus far, this semester has been pretty chill.  I maybe read 20 pages on any given day from all my texts combined and then prep for a quiz.   As a comparison, last semester I had at least 30 pages of daily reading for History plus a chapter for Biology every now and again.  AND for English I always had a paper to work on...Plus Dance class and Health and Institute.  Yep, I kept pretty busy.

Though I guess I shouldn't be complaining.  Like I said above, this bad attitude might come back and give me a good swift kick at the beginning of next week.

I guess I should just be grateful for the way it's been thus far.  If it stays like this I'll have tons of time to study my scriptures, read Preach My Gospel and True to the Faith, and maybe still even get to bed on time!

Here's to the most boxer-stepping semester ever.